PORTLAND, ORE. -- The Hornets suffered their first defeat Wednesday, losing to the Portland Trail Blazers 93-90 at the Rose Garden.

The Hornets were trying to start the season 5-0 for the first time in franchise history. But Martell Webster and Jarrett Jack scored 20 points. The Hornets came to the Rose Garden Wednesday night rolling, able to take advantage of various strengths from Peja Stojakovic's 3-point shooting to Chris Paul's pinpoint passing. Hornets Coach Byron Scott expected to see more of the same against a Portland Trail Blazers team they scored 113 points against in a 10-point victory last Friday at the New Orleans Arena.

Stojakovic, who made a team record 10 3-pointers to 36 points in Tuesday's 118-104 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers, was unable to make that same kind of impact. He missed eight of his first 10 shots before finishing with five points. He missed four of five 3-pointers and shot 2-of-13 from the field.

Center Tyson Chandler had been the Hornets' most dominant player in the post for the past four games. But just before the end of the third quarter, Chandler was already in the locker room, finished for the night after scoring 11 points and grabbing eight rebounds. He was ejected after receiving his second technical foul for throwing an elbow on a rebound attempt.

Early on, it appeared the Hornets were on their way to another victory after holding Portland to 18 points in the second quarter, which led to their 49-44 halftime lead.

But the third-quarter surge the Hornets had utilized in their four previous victories, was missing Wednesday night. Instead it was the Trail Blazers who surged. They outscored the Hornets 32-18 during the quarter to take a 76-67 lead. Four minutes into the fourth, Portland led 81-68.

The Hornets did not arrive in Portland until noon Wednesday because they were unable to leave Los Angeles on the team plane after Tuesday game because of thick fog in Portland.